Mayor Slay: St. Louis Is Not Detroit

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) – City officials in Detroit hope to have a restructuring plan in place by the end of the year, deciding how much money creditors will be paid and when.

Meanwhile, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay says his own city budget bears no similarity to what Detroit went through.

“We have been tackling these issues from the very beginning. When the economy started going in the tank, we made the cuts necessary, we made the efficiencies necessary, we are addressing the skyrocketing pension costs,” Slay said at an event Friday.

The mayor notes that the city maintains a good credit rating and, by law, operates on a balanced budget.

The Motor City’s meltdown has Slay’s attention but he says he’s not taking a look at any changes to fiscal policy based on what happened there.

“I didn’t have to look at anything, I know what’s going on and again, we are balancing our budget, we are paying our bills, and we do have a very good credit rating. We don’t take any of that for granted.”